John Kaboff, B.M., M.M., studied with Janos Starker at Indiana University as well as Jacqueline DuPré's teacher, William Pleeth, at the Holland Music Sessions in the Netherlands and at the Britten-Peers Summer School in England. He also studied at the International Academy of Chamber Music (now the Kronberg Academy) in Germany with Arto Noras, where he served as Mr. Pleeth's teaching assistant.
A resident of the Washington, D.C. area since 1995, Mr. Kaboff has performed as recital and concerto soloist at The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, The United States Department of State, The Corcoran Gallery of Art, The Embassies of Germany, France and New Zealand, and has been a repeat concerto soloist with the JCC Symphony Orchestra and the Landon Symphonette. In 2013, he performed with the Manhattan Symphonie in Carnegie Hall.
“Beguilingly lyrical and in top form.”
— The Montgomery County Sentinel, following his recital at Strathmore HallInternationally, he has performed in the Kleinezaal of the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, The Cologne Museum of Modern Art, Frankfurt Museum of Contemporary Art and The Adelaide Towne Hall. He frequently performs chamber music with colleagues known as the Nottingham Ensemble and is Director of Chamber Music for The Capital Symphonic Youth Orchestra.
Mr. Kaboff is a highly successful private teacher of pre-college age students who frequently garner prizes in local and regional cello competitions. His students have taken top prizes in all levels of the Washington Performing Arts Society competition. Multiple students have been prizewinners at the American Protégé Competition, resulting in Carnegie Hall, Weill Recital Hall debut recitals. Former students have attended Curtis Institute, Indiana University, University of Michigan, Cleveland Institute of Music and the Mannes College of Music. They have held positions in the Baltimore Symphony, Austin Symphony, Aspen Music Festival, Castleton Music Festival, and other European orchestras.
In 2019, the chamber music ensembles he coached appeared in concert at the Kennedy Center, Millennium Stage and on ABC, Channel 7 in Washington, D.C. In 2022 and 2024 they were featured in Weill Recital Hall in Carnegie Hall. They will return in April 2026.
His students' cello ensemble, the Bow Lightlys, were featured at the World Cello Congress III (2000) in an internationally broadcast workshop with Yo-Yo Ma, and performed at the Sixth American Cello Congress (2001) as part of Mr. Kaboff's guest lecture. They have performed at the Embassy of France, for the American Diabetes Association, World Central Kitchen, and at senior living centers throughout the region.
The Bow Lightlys at Carnegie Hall · 2022 & 2024 · Returning April 2026
Mr. Kaboff is a frequent judge at local and regional competitions, having adjudicated the 2000 World Cello Congress, the 2006 and 2012 Washington International Competition, and serving as chairman of the Washington International Competition for Strings in 2022.
As a frequent guest lecturer, he has conducted master classes and performed at the Flinders Street Conservatorium in Adelaide, Purcell School of Music in London, Indiana University Summer String Program, Michigan State University, Longy School of Music in Boston, and the Universities of Texas, Tennessee and Rhode Island. He was artist in residence at Appalachian State University in 2011 and 2019, and a featured artist at the Tennessee Cello Workshop from 2010–2025.
Mr. Kaboff has earned Suzuki certification through level 10 and was invited by the Suzuki Association of Australia to conduct workshops, master classes and solo recitals in Melbourne and Adelaide.
He has received accolades from world-class cellists Yo-Yo Ma and Janos Starker. Yo-Yo Ma notes him in a biography entitled Musicians With a Mission as a superb teacher of young children. Mr. Kaboff has been featured in the Washington Post, The Baltimore Sun, The Washington Jewish Weekly, The Vienna (VA) Connection and The Montgomery Journal.